Congrats, tiffy, lunas are easily my favorite moth! Your boy (at least I think it's a male) is gorgeous - there are so few green moths and/or butterflies! We all love to help people successfully raise their leps here on the forum - I'm so glad everything turned out well! Sherry

Sherry, the Polyphemus spins a white cocoon. Unlike the Luna, the Poly cocoon is quite dense. They spin a LOT of silk! Their cocoons look like tiny surgical casts. In fact, it is because of this, that the Poly's first cousin, native to China, Antheraea pernyi, was and may still be used for silk, just as the Bombyx is. The Cynthia moth is also used for silk. At one time, Cynthias were common in NE US, but have largely died off, chiefly due to habitat loss as well as parasitoids such as the tachinid fly. Susanlynne, one sureshot way to tell male from female Luna, at a glance, is color. The females are that characteristic green, while males are yellow-green. I could tell from my upstairs bedroom window, the Luna I saw, resting on a young hickory, was most definitely a male. No way could I see its body size or antennae. I hope this helps.

Usually when people find luna moth caterpillars, it's because they're through eating leaves and are traveling to find a place to make their cocoon. They can and do make it in a variety of places. Sometimes they stay in the tree whose leaves they'd been eating and make it on one of the branches. Sometimes they wrap up in leaves, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they make it on the ground or in a nearby tree. Regardless, at this point, it's most likely to overwinter in Missouri. Just keep it protected. I don't keep mine in air tight containers, because my common sense tells me that would encourage excessive moisture and the resulting mold. A plastic container needs some sticks or other rougher objects inside it that the moth can climb onto when it emerges - plastic is slippery, and the newly emerged moth would not likely form properly, since they need to hang to bring the fluids to the wings to expand them. Mine are in cages that are PVC frames with mesh coverings that are outside on my front porch - it's best to keep them outside so the moth will be more likely to emerge when spring occurs. The inside of a heated house is too warm, the moth will probably emerge too early there. It should be protected from critters that might eat it. Do you remember if this caterpillar had a yellow line along its side? If it didn't, it would be a polyphemus moth, also a big beauty. Sherry

When sphinx moths wander around, like this one was undoubtedly doing when it was found, they're nearly always looking for a place to pupate. Sphinx moth caterpillars go underground to pupate, so if you want to keep it, you could put it in some clean dirt, clean leaves, or even torn up paper in a covered container, so it can hide at the bottom and pupate. If you don't want to keep it, just put it outside in a place where it's not likely to get stepped on while it's wandering. Also, a place where the dirt is soft would be good. Sherry